El Dorado County is committed to helping our residents affected by the Mosquito Fire recover as quickly and safely as possible. Please consider this site your one-stop-shop for recovery information and we'll continue to update it as new resources and information become available.
El Dorado County Sheriff's Office proclaimed a
local emergency
and the County Public Health Officer proclaimed a
local health emergency on September 9th as a result of the Mosquito Fire. Governor Gavin Newsom has also
proclaimed a state of emergency for Placer and El Dorado counties due to the fire.
As a reminder for families whose homes have suffered structural damage,
please follow safety measures when sifting through ash. Do not take debris or ash to landfills, transfer stations or dumpsters because it may be contaminated and do not remove or drag anything through the ash footprint, as it may disqualify you from receiving possible future financial assistance.
There has been some confusion about debris cleanup for this fire and how it compares to debris cleanup from the Caldor Fire.
1. The State FINISHED household hazardous waste debris cleanup (gas, paint, toxic substances etc.) on properties Oct. 10th. This was mandatory and residents could not opt out of it. Your property should be tagged indicating that phase of the cleanup is complete.
2. The State will NOT offer a consolidated debris cleanup for structures and trees like they did for the Caldor Fire. However, the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 15th approved a County-led debris removal program that will provide financial assistance to our residents to cover some or all of the cost of qualified cleanup efforts and approved the funding stream for the County-led program on December 6th.
Property owners will receive a letter by certified mail, email or phone call to apprise them of their options. Please refer to the
Right of Entry page on this site for detailed information about the program and the
Debris Removal page for options to this program. Please note that if you opt into the County-led program and have insurance coverage for debris removal, the County will request payment for the cost of debris removal after the property is cleaned and returned to property owners; if you have no insurance, there will be no cost to clean your property.
We suggest that residents take care while sifting through the ash debris but do NOT take anything outside of the ash footprint until notified by the County's Environmental Management department.
Please see this
Mosquito Debris Removal Program Fact Sheet for information about fire debris cleanup options.
If you have any questions about the debris removal process, please call our Environmental Management department at (530) 621-5300.
